‘Three’s’ the charm for Turkish lenser

Gokhan Tiryaki delights in poetic camera work

At one time, Gokhan Tiryaki was primed to enter Istanbul’s financial industry with a degree in economics, but he got sidetracked when he invested in a film career.

After 18 years in the business, part of which he spent honing his skills as a Steadicam operator, Tiryaki has become one of Turkey’s most lauded d.p.’s, lensing several productions including “Three Monkeys,” a visually stark and poetic tale of a family engulfed in secrets.

In some ways Tiryaki was destined to work behind a camera. His passion for still photography blossomed in his teens, and he later took a job at Turkey’s national television station working on telepics and documentaries before earning an economics degree.

While past projects have garnered praise, “Monkeys” marked a major artistic point, turning heads at film fests and within critics’ circles. Tiryaki worked with helmer Nuri Bilge Ceylan to craft the imagery, which contrasts gray, overcast cityscapes with green and gold hues, and wavers between distant wide angles of the characters and tight shots that accentuate every detail.

“Ceylan gives a brief about what he wants to see onscreen, and shares the pictures in his mind,” Tiryaki says. “I try to do my best to deliver them.”

P.O.V.

Movie that changed my life: Andrei Tarkovsky’s “Andrei Rublev”

D.P. hero: Christopher Doyle. “There is always innovation and change in his works.”

Film or digital: “Both. But I suggest HD systems to directors I work with. It has a lot of advantages (like) long recording and much better outputs. Also it’s more economic.”